by Ilizna | Book Reviews, Everything
The Book That Changed How I See Wealth
A month ago, I listened to a business podcast, and this book came up. It caught my attention, but I didn’t act on it. Then, the next day, one of my favorite YouTubers, Ali Abdaal, recommended it. That was it – I had to get my hands on The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco.
I downloaded the audiobook that same day and I couldn’t stop listening.
This book isn’t about gimmicky get-rich-quick schemes. It’s about fundamental shifts in thinking – understanding wealth, time, and the trap of the consumer mindset. It forces you to re-evaluate everything you thought you knew about making money and building a financially free life.
Let’s dive in.
What Is The Millionaire Fastlane About?
MJ DeMarco shares his journey from being a broke limousine driver to becoming a multimillionaire in his 30s. He introduces three financial roadmaps and explains why most people get stuck in financial mediocrity or outright struggle. His core argument? The traditional path of working a 9-to-5, saving, and waiting until you’re 65 to retire is broken.
Instead, he introduces The Fastlane as a superior approach to financial freedom, where you create systems that generate wealth while you sleep. Here’s what makes The Millionaire Fastlane so compelling:
The Three Financial Roadmaps
- The Sidewalk (Poverty Path): Living paycheck to paycheck, never building assets, and remaining financially dependent.
- The Slowlane (Middle-Class Mediocrity): Following conventional financial wisdom – get a degree, work a steady job, save a little, and hope your retirement fund lasts.
- The Fastlane (Wealth Path): Building assets and businesses that generate scalable, passive income. Instead of waiting decades, this method allows financial independence much earlier in life.
3 Lessons That Changed How I Think About Money
1. Wealth Isn’t Just About Money – It’s About the Three F’s: Family, Fitness, and Freedom
DeMarco defines wealth as more than money. True wealth includes:
- Family (Relationships): Having time and presence for your loved ones.
- Fitness (Health): Being able to enjoy life physically and mentally.
- Freedom (Time & Choices): Living on your own terms without financial stress.
Money matters because it enables freedom—the ability to do what you want, when you want, without being tied to a job.
2. Stop Trading Time for Money
The traditional Slowlane approach relies on working for wages—you trade hours for pay. But in the Fastlane, your income isn’t limited by your time.
- Example: J.K. Rowling spent years writing Harry Potter, but once published, the books generated ongoing royalties. She doesn’t have to rewrite them to keep earning.
- The goal? Create systems or assets (books, businesses, software, courses) that generate revenue without requiring constant effort.
This doesn’t mean money falls from the sky. You have to put in the work upfront. But once built, the system pays you indefinitely.
3. Be a Producer, Not a Consumer
Most people live as consumers – spending money, watching content, buying products. DeMarco flips this: create instead of consume.
- Instead of buying books, write one!
- Instead of scrolling social media, build a platform!
- Instead of binge-watching, create content!
Once you start seeing everything through a producer’s lens, opportunities appear everywhere…
The Five Fastlane Business Models – “Seedlings”
To get into the Fastlane to create wealth, DeMarco identifies five types of scalable business systems:
- Rental Systems: Real estate, equipment rentals.
- Computer/Software Systems: Apps, SaaS products.
- Content Systems: Books, online courses, blogs, YouTube channels.
- Distribution Systems: E-commerce, Amazon FBA, dropshipping.
- Human Resource Systems: Agencies, service businesses.
Each of these models can be scaled beyond the limits of trading time for money.
The Five Fastlane Commandments (NECST)
To be in the Millionaire Fastlane, follow these five commandments:
- Need: Solve a real problem that people will pay for.
- Entry: The harder it is to enter, the better (less competition).
- Control: Own your business—don’t rely on platforms you don’t control.
- Scale: Your income should be able to grow without limits.
- Time: The business should eventually run without your constant input.
MJ deMarco’s Law of Effection: The Key to Wealth
DeMarco’s golden rule: The more lives you affect in a meaningful way, the richer you will be.
That’s why books, apps, and businesses that reach thousands or millions make their creators wealthy. The goal is to solve problems for large groups of people, not just yourself.
My Key Takeaways
- The traditional Slowlane approach to wealth (work, save, retire at 65) is a broken model.
- Real wealth is about freedom.
- To get rich, stop thinking like a consumer and start creating value.
- Passive income doesn’t mean easy money. It means building systems that scale.
- The more people you help, the wealthier you become.
Final Verdict: Is The Millionaire Fastlane Worth Reading?
Absolutely.
This book is a wake-up call for anyone stuck in the 9-to-5 mindset. It’s not about chasing quick riches but about setting up your life for financial freedom as soon as possible. If you want a life where you’re in control of your time and income, this book is essential reading.
Quick Summary: The Millionaire Fastlane in 5 Sentences
- The traditional path to wealth (get a job, save, retire at 65) is a slow, unreliable route to financial freedom.
- True wealth is about freedom, relationships, and health. It’s more than just money.
- To escape the Slowlane, you must create scalable systems that generate income without constant effort.
- The more value you create and the more people you help, the richer you become.
- Stop being a consumer; start being a producer.
If you’re ready to rethink wealth, The Millionaire Fastlane is a must-read. Enjoy!
by Ilizna | Book Reviews, Everything
As women, especially career-driven and busy moms, we juggle a thousand things every day: the school run, the 9-5, keeping a home together, and often, just trying to carve out a little ‘me time’. But what if I told you that you could manage all this chaos with more confidence, focus, and even joy?
Well, I’ve got the solution—and it’s in the pages of seven life-changing books.
So grab a cup of coffee and let’s dive into these must-reads for the year!
The Phrase That Became My Motto
I’m starting with my favorite. Marie Forleo’s mantra “It’s figureoutable” has helped me navigate tough moments, reminding me that no matter how complicated things seem, there’s always a way through.
For busy moms facing challenges, this book is a lifeline of sorts. It offers actionable advice on how to push through obstacles, stay resilient, and adopt a problem-solving mindset. Forleo’s energy and wit are contagious, and this book will teach you how to:
- Shift your thinking from “I can’t” to “I can figure it out.”
- Embrace uncertainty as part of growth.
- Take positive steps towards becoming the person you want to be.
This book will help you break through the mental barriers that stop you from achieving your goals – whether it’s in your career, personal life, or even side hustle. It’s a must-read if you need a push to stop making excuses and start making things happen.
Mastering Time Management Like a Pro
If you’re a busy mom and career woman, time management is your best friend (or at least it should be). But let’s be real, sometimes time feels like it’s slipping through your fingers, and the to-do list keeps growing.
In Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy teaches you how to prioritize your day and tackle your hardest, most important tasks first. The key to productivity? Don’t put off what’s uncomfortable or difficult, rather do it first. Tracy’s advice is simple, but it works. Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to identify your biggest priorities and focus on them.
- The art of overcoming procrastination.
- Practical strategies to stop feeling overwhelmed and start getting things done.
If you struggle to manage your time as a busy working mom, this book will change the way you approach every day. You’ll learn how to work smarter, not just harder.
The Blueprint for Skill-Building Success
Pat Flynn’s How to Be Better at (Almost) Anything is a practical guide to mastering new skills to reach your goals. Flynn believes that with the right approach, anyone can get better at just about anything. This book provides the step-by-step framework to make it happen.
This book is a goldmine for moms who feel stuck or want to level up in both their personal and professional lives. Flynn’s advice focuses on:
- Breaking skills down into manageable, learnable parts.
- Using deliberate practice to accelerate improvement.
- Why your focus should be on becoming a generalist, reaching 80% skill level on each relevant skill before putting it in maintenance mode and learning or improving on your next skill.
Whether you want to climb the corporate ladder, reach your fitness goals, or build a side business, this book will show you how acquire the skills to do it – without feeling like you need to be a genius or perfect mom.
The Business Classic That Sparked My Interest in Business
Let’s talk about Good to Great by Jim Collins – a book that revolutionized the way I view business and leadership. If you’re serious about growing in your career in the corporate world or starting your own business, this book is for you.
Collins explores why some companies soar while others stagnate. The lessons are in most cases just as relevant to personal growth as they are to business. Some of the insights that stuck with me include:
- The importance of having the right people in the right positions.
- Think of new ideas in line of the hedgehog effect: focusing on what you’re deeply passionate about, what drives your economic engine, and what you can be the best in the world at.
Good to Great provides a wealth of knowledge on how to grow and create lasting impact. It’s packed with stats, case studies, and real-world examples that make it an insightful read for career-driven women.
A Refreshing Take on Wealth Building
Wealth building isn’t just about saving pennies or waiting for that “one day” when you can retire. In The Millionaire Fastlane, MJ DeMarco offers a refreshing, no-nonsense approach to building wealth, making it one of the most eye-opening books I’ve read.
DeMarco challenges the conventional idea of “slow and steady” and advocates for creating a business that allows you to fast-track your financial freedom. It’s for anyone who wants to rethink their approach to money.
Here’s what this book will teach you:
- How to stop following the “get-rich-slowly” advice and take a more proactive approach to wealth.
- Why traditional advice often leaves you stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.
- The importance of focusing on value creation.
This book has been a game-changer for me in how I approach finances. If you’ve ever dreamed of financial freedom or want to teach your kids about the value of money, this book will give you lots to think about.
A Refreshing Take on Self-Help and Suffering
If you’re tired of hearing the same thing over and over again in self-help books, Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is the book you need. It strips away from the positive psychology craze to remind us that happiness, suffering and living a meaningful life is perhaps not what we’ve been told.
This book will help you:
- Think differently about your goals, other people’s expectations, suffering and the self-help industry.
- To realize that negative emotions are calls to action.
It’s blunt, it’s funny, and it’s exactly what many of us need to hear.
Think Bigger, Dream Bigger, Achieve Bigger
Last but certainly not least, The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz will teach you how to stop limiting yourself with small thinking and start dreaming bigger. Schwartz breaks down how to think like a leader and achieve goals that once seemed out of reach.
The key takeaways from this book include:
- How to cultivate confidence and belief in yourself.
- The importance of setting big, audacious goals (and how to achieve them).
- The power of attitude in achieving success.
Whether you’re a mom dreaming of launching a business or climbing the corporate ladder, this book will give you the tools to start thinking bigger and bolder. It’s about shifting your mindset to unlock new possibilities.
Conclusion: As career moms, we have the power to redefine what’s possible. The key is to keep learning, growing, and challenging ourselves. These seven life-changing books provide the wisdom, tools, and mindset shifts needed to thrive.
So, here’s to figuring it out, taking action, improving every day, building wealth on our own terms, and thinking big.
